THE!CART... New 128MB FLASH Cartridge

[+JAC!]

The!Cart Studio Update - 2014-01-15

• New Atari Software version 2014-01-15 included.
• • Fixed several flasher issues:
    - only ask for a disk when data will actually be read from it
    - added retry option on I/O errors
    - don't print empty bank numbers
    - in non-incremental mode program checksum block after data has been programmed (like in incremental mode)
  • Display software version in The!Cart simple menu
  • Check SHIFT key (to keep main config registers enabled) when disabling The!Cart with ESC from the simple menu and when OPTION is pressed during boot
• Cartridge database was broken after refactoring and is now working again.
• First version of output for entry number, The!Cart module type, start bank number and boot bank number in the status bar of the extended menu.
• Columns with ATASCII string (titles, genres) are now sorted with binary order and not with local dependent collation. This means "Atarimax 1 MB" now appears before "Atarimax 128 KB" both in the studio and in the menu.
• New flash target type "Turbo Freezer 2005 448 KB" added which can be used to create ".BIN" files with 56 banks and 8k, 16k, OSS and SDX bank switching.
• Flash target type "User Defined" now allows all content types, so you can create arbitrary image files with it.

Please note that I didn't have an Atari and real cart to test this one (esp. the menu) today. Yet I wanted to release it because of the improved Atari Software.
Even though the menu looks quite the same, much refactoring has been done, so it internally handles now up to 8192 entries in the search result.

Not much you can see from that (except the output on the status line), because the displayed list is still limited to 20, but "2504 lines of source assembled in 4 pass" take time to write :-)

 

Edited January 15, 2014 by JAC!

[ZylonSlayer77]

Nice update, JAC! Unfortunately I have a couple of bugs to report. First, the title fields cannot be edited. Plus, in my workbook, line 17 (10h), which is Alphabet Zoo, is completely blacked out for some reason.

 

Oh yes, speaking of workbooks, I do believe it's time for an update. I have replaced Crisis Mountain with the XEX version provided by FULS. I was able to find an XEX of Infiltrator that works as well (no introductory mission briefing, just goes straight into the game, but at least it does work), courtesy of, as you might have guessed, AO (the site that has at least 5 versions of every game -- fortunately they have an archive file so you don't have to click them all, wish more sites did that). So, those two are fixed, and I went ahead and added the Boulder Dash 166-in-1 since it didn't put the zip over 10 MB. I know, I said I was avoiding compilations, but this one should cause no confusion since it's all games from the same series, not some subjective "best of" compilation. The custom loaders it uses also make it quite unique (it's not something just anyone could throw together).

 

Some other changes have been made, most of them cosmetic in nature. First, it's set to use the extended menu, since one exists now (it didn't when I released the last one). Second, I have moved the normal ROMs up next to the XEGS ones since that part of the list is far less likely to change in the future. Finally, some organization tags have been added. Since all of the files are going into the same .tcd folder, I have decided to place "(Max)" at the end of all Maxflash conversions. That is, anything that I either don't know the source of, or is a true conversion with actual changes to the game code. Any of the self-boots or compilations made by me (and the Crisis Mountain by FULS) will end with "(XEX)" or "(ATR)" for further clarification (I don't have any compilations with mixed sources, but I'll probably use "(MIX)" when/if the situation arises). Compilations are also tagged as such with "(Comp)" right before the aforementioned "source" tags. Hopefully this will make it easier for those downloading the workbook to reuse the files in their own workbooks. Anyway, here it is -- All Carts Workbook BUGFIX 1.zip

 

I'm thinking, since XEX files are small, and most will probably fit on one, I could do genre-based compilations of those -- "Text Adventures (Comp) (XEX).car" for example, without too much confusion being induced. Since only 10 or 11 ATRs will fit a compilation, though, I'd be looking at around 5 per genre for those. That could be a little confusing, so I may just self-boot those. Self-booting a 90 KB ATR doesn't waste that much space anyway (and it's not like we're running short on it). Anyway, enjoy, please continue to report any issues you find, and thanks for all of the constructive feedback.

Edited January 16, 2014 by ZylonSlayer77

[Marius]

Have tested it... I can confirm that titles can't be edited.

 

No other problems here... fun of cart is immediately much higher with the menu.

 

Pretty cool!

[Roydea6]

I have a blank Menu title also about 17th place. Pressing the return key opens the car file and plays the titles shown

[+remowilliams]

Hopefully this will make it easier for those downloading the workbook to reuse the files in their own workbooks. Anyway, here it is -- All Carts Workbook BUGFIX 1.zip

 

Tried flashing this and even with a new workbook, re-ordering banks, erasing the cart, etc. I've twice gotten read errors at 378 (378 read, error reading drive 1, retry (y/n?) trying to use the large aspeqt ATR.

[+JAC!]

>First, the title fields cannot be edited.

2014-01-17

Title and genre column were not editable in the version from 2014-01-15 because introducing the new data type for sorting disabled the default editor. This is fixed again now.

I cannot see the black/blank line issue in Atari800, will check on the real thing soon.

>Tried flashing this and even with a new workbook, re-ordering banks, erasing the cart, etc. I've twice gotten read errors at 378

The structure of the workbook can normally not affect the I/O. So this is probably more down to AspeQt & the USB/SIO part.

Edited January 17, 2014 by JAC!

[ZylonSlayer77]

 

Tried flashing this and even with a new workbook, re-ordering banks, erasing the cart, etc. I've twice gotten read errors at 378 (378 read, error reading drive 1, retry (y/n?) trying to use the large aspeqt ATR.

 

That's odd, it flashed just fine from 16 MB ATRs using my SIO2SD. It's not like I've made any changes to the .tcw file with a hex editor or anything. Maybe a bug in the new version of the software (or in AspeQt). Hard to say.

Edited January 17, 2014 by ZylonSlayer77

[HiassofT]

Tried flashing this and even with a new workbook, re-ordering banks, erasing the cart, etc. I've twice gotten read errors at 378 (378 read, error reading drive 1, retry (y/n?) trying to use the large aspeqt ATR.

I suspect you are having SIO transmission problems.

 

What speed (Pokey divisor) are you using? If you are using divisor 0, try setting it to 1 or 2.

 

so long,

 

Hias

[+remowilliams]

 

That's odd, it flashed just fine from 16 MB ATRs using my SIO2SD. It's not like I've made any changes to the .tcw file with a hex editor or anything. Maybe a bug in the new version of the software (or in AspeQt). Hard to say.

 

It failed for a third time with the huge aspeqt image in the exact same place - 378. I exported it to 16MB ATRs and mounted them in aspeqt and the flash completed.

 

 

I suspect you are having SIO transmission problems.

 

What speed (Pokey divisor) are you using? If you are using divisor 0, try setting it to 1 or 2.

 

so long,

 

Hias

 

 

I'm using a stock OS with high speed SIO turned on in the cart flasher. I did get it done as noted above, but the 16MB ATRs were done with high speed SIO turned on as well. Although oddly it didnt seem that high speed kicked in until it switched to the second drive/ATR.

[+remowilliams]

The!Cart Studio Update - 2014-01-15

 

Finally able to see the new menu, looks nice

 

Forgive this if it is a very stupid question, but how do you switch pages in the menu? Hitting the bottom with joystick scroll doesn't seem to move it, and hitting space bar seems to crash it.

[+JAC!]

Not a stupid question at all, that's simply not yet possible. That's what will be possible in the next update!

[HiassofT]

I'm using a stock OS with high speed SIO turned on in the cart flasher. I did get it done as noted above, but the 16MB ATRs were done with high speed SIO turned on as well. Although oddly it didnt seem that high speed kicked in until it switched to the second drive/ATR.

This really looks like some transmission problem and/or issues with your PC and/or APE. Again: Which speed (pokey divisor) did you use? Have you tried lowering the speed?

 

While testing my highspeed SIO code I received a few reports that people couldn't get Pokey divisor 0 working reliably. In one case exchanging Pokey cured the issue.

 

The highspeed code in the flasher is exactly the same as in my highspeed OS patch.

 

so long,

 

Hias

[+remowilliams]

This really looks like some transmission problem and/or issues with your PC and/or APE. Again: Which speed (pokey divisor) did you use? Have you tried lowering the speed?

 

While testing my highspeed SIO code I received a few reports that people couldn't get Pokey divisor 0 working reliably. In one case exchanging Pokey cured the issue.

 

The highspeed code in the flasher is exactly the same as in my highspeed OS patch.

 

so long,

 

Hias

 

 

Not sure what the divisor is but aspeqt is set for 57,600, and it's using an actual serial port which I've never had issues with.

 

It seems to be something specific to the large ATR programming image for AspeQT and it's large sectors/high speed.

[HiassofT]

Not sure what the divisor is but aspeqt is set for 57,600, and it's using an actual serial port which I've never had issues with.

OK, at 57.600 bit/sec you shouldn't have any "near the edge" problems like with 126kbit/sec.

 

It seems to be something specific to the large ATR programming image for AspeQT and it's large sectors/high speed.

I'm not too sure, you wrote that even with 16MB files the first one seemed to be loading at standard speed, and only the second (and following) images at high speed.

 

This could be due to a slight glitch in AspeQt, maybe because some program running in the background was disturbing AspeQt.

 

I'm using Linux (and I'm usually using my own AtariSIO software, which is mostly glitch free, due to using a kernel driver and realtime scheduling priorities), and noticed that AspeQt glitched quite regularly (every 50-200 sectors or so there was a small but noticable "hiccup").

 

Unfortunately there's not much you can do about it, except for shutting down all programs running in the background. But at the end of the day the issues might also be coming from the video card driver (or any other driver) or your virus scanner or something else.

 

so long,

 

Hias

[Roydea6]

SS Music Jukebox.ATR

 

I would like to get this put into and AtariMax format and add it to THECART but when selected it comes up with a screen like this one..

 

 

Thanks to anyone that can get it working for me. I have asked at the AtariMax web site forums but have not got an answer from there for several months.

 

[+remowilliams]

OK, at 57.600 bit/sec you shouldn't have any "near the edge" problems like with 126kbit/sec.

 

I'm not too sure, you wrote that even with 16MB files the first one seemed to be loading at standard speed, and only the second (and following) images at high speed.

 

This could be due to a slight glitch in AspeQt, maybe because some program running in the background was disturbing AspeQt.

 

I'm using Linux (and I'm usually using my own AtariSIO software, which is mostly glitch free, due to using a kernel driver and realtime scheduling priorities), and noticed that AspeQt glitched quite regularly (every 50-200 sectors or so there was a small but noticable "hiccup").

 

Unfortunately there's not much you can do about it, except for shutting down all programs running in the background. But at the end of the day the issues might also be coming from the video card driver (or any other driver) or your virus scanner or something else.

 

so long,

 

Hias

 

 

Yes, I thought about the possibility of something system related potentially interfering, but 57.6 isn't hugely fast and I found it very odd how it died every single time on the same sector.

[ZylonSlayer77]

@remowilliams: Glad you were able to get it to work. I agree that 57.6 really shouldn't be a problem. I'm flashing on my unmodified XEGS with it wide open (Pokey divisor 0 on my SIO2SD). Unfortunately, I don't have an SIO2PC to check with myself. Thanks to flash adapters, I'm finally retiring things like the V64 Jr., Magic Super Griffin, GDSF7/SWC DX2 (depending on whether I'm playing Star Ocean/anything else), Double Pro Fighter, etc. So hooking another device up to the PC seemed like going in the wrong direction. Still, I'll probably get one eventually. It does have some unique features that interest me.

 

@rdea6: Well, if you can't get Steve, Mr. A, or Wrathchild from AtariMax to take it up, the only two people I can think of that I'm 99% certain could fix it are tep392 and Fandal. I will check my collection just to see if I have an alternate version that works. I'm not expecting to find one, but you never know until you try them all -- I was about ready to give up on Infiltrator until that last one brought up the controls.

[Marius]

For running ATR from a cart there is some kind of OS patch needed. The program will not get right OS crc or so, so it reports an error,

 

 

Another reason that some unexpected things with atarimax cart happen may be caused because the atari part of the cart software does not reset computer into cold startup state.

 

Extirpator suffers a bit from this (the yellow orange bars left and write to the screen do not belong there, but are caused because Tucker's software set certain color values in shadow which are not reset after starting the game; while I can't blame the game since the game was originally created for original atari situation where these shadows read zero in boot up)

 

I am pretty sure there are more kind of these things with the atarimax loader in the carts and Steve does not see the reason to fix that so then we are done.

 

But for ATR support I understand why you get that error. While you chose the ATR to load from the cart the cart first installs some kind of soft Os. Big chance that it is an OSB version too: that is also happening with myide // fat32 loader.

 

 

[HiassofT]

Yes, I thought about the possibility of something system related potentially interfering, but 57.6 isn't hugely fast

There are 2 (mostly) independent issues: the one is speed, the other timing (latency).

 

Speed is usually limited by electrical factors, like total capacitance of the SIO bus, how many devices you have connected etc. If you have really a lot of devices connected, or if you haven't clipped off all the caps in your Atari and also in your 1050s etc, you can still get issues at 57kbit.

 

Timing/latency is independent of speed, it's a constant constraint. At various points within the SIO protocol the Atari expects to get an answer from the device within a very short period of time.

 

For example 16ms in case of the ACK/NAK to a command frame.

 

This isn't a lot of time, especially if you consider that most OSes in use aren't designed for realtime applications - and there are a lot of parties involved: the physical serial card, the driver, the OS and the application (AspeQt). Wat's even worse is that if any one of these parties messes up and you (occasionally) fail to meet the timing constraints a lot of "funny" things can happen - even at standard 19kbit speed.

 

As a rule of thumb, check that the serial card driver is configured for minimum latency (receive interrupt level at lowest position, ideally 1 character), maybe try disabling automatical CPU frequency scaling (this can introduce additional latency when frequency is switched, depeding on the frequency scaling driver implementation/CPU/OS) and that no background programs are interfering. If you are using Windows you might want to check with the task manager if AspeQt is running at the highest possible priority, so that the Windows scheduler prefers to run AspeQt instead of other (background) applications.

 

and I found it very odd how it died every single time on the same sector.

This is indeed strange. Did the AspeQt log contain any interesting information when that happened? BTW: with the new flasher you can retry several times to get the sector loaded and you can also (just for testing) try to disable highspeed SIO in AspeQt just for the retry (the highspeed code on the Atari will automatically fall back to standard speed if it encounters problems at high speed - you'll hear some nasty "farts" but it'll work).

 

so long,

 

Hias

[Marius]

@rdea6

 

I'll give that one a try btw to hack for you, so it might work... but I can't promise anything. Pretty nice arrangement of Hotel California I'm hearing right now.

 

btw: even on my stock PAL 65XE it doesn't work. This computer has probably the newer OS with the 128KB memory check in the selftest.

 

Well... I killed the OS check routine. That was not so hard... so it now runs at least on my 65XE. It also runs from my IDE+ 2.0 ... so it has not weird hard coded SIO routines.

 

But from OS B it won't run, so that's why it probably does not run from AtariMax.

 

I'm not sure it does not run because of 64KB needed, or that certain XL/XE vectors are used which aren't present in OS B (or on other locations)

 

I'll check it from the 4MB cart, which has another way of handling ATR's...

Edited January 18, 2014 by ProWizard

[Marius]

I'm afraid that Jukebox ATR can not simply run from a cart. It seems to switch off OS and uses the memory the OS usually occupies. Since there is DISK I/O with every song, there is really a need for using that memory area, so the program itself could be adapted to run from anywhere. Unfortunately I am not skilled enough to do that.

 

It's a nice disk though, so if someone else could do that, that would be nice.

 

-> I tested the adapted .ATR of that disk on:

 

4MB cart -> It loads a bit further, but hangs stuck soon

 

MyIDE ][ FAT 32 -> It fails completely

 

MyIDE Image loader with Soft OS -> It fails completely

 

MyIDE with MyIDE OS in Eprom -> It fails completely

 

IDE+ 2.0 ATR loader -> it runs 100%

 

Perhaps hard coded OS locations are used, which might differ in non XL/XE rev. 2 OS's (I really should test this ATR with a Qmeg OS or so)

If vectors were used, it would probably run on the MyIDE OS in Eprom, but since it even fails on that one, I think I/O is not running through documented I/O Vectors.

Edited January 19, 2014 by ProWizard

[+remowilliams]

Compilations are also tagged as such with "(Comp)" right before the aforementioned "source" tags. Hopefully this will make it easier for those downloading the workbook to reuse the files in their own workbooks. Anyway, here it is -- All Carts Workbook BUGFIX 1.zip

 

 

 

Looks like Beach Head doesn't work, it crashes on loading the first scene. I was able to replace it with an ATR > Maxflash conversion which does seem to work. On Infiltrator (the non working one), I put Steve's version on an Atarimax flash cart for testing and it doesn't work there either.

[+JAC!]

Note: I realized a bug in the boot start bank computation for some cartridge types that use >8k banks. It's under investigation.

[venom4728a]

I have made two work books. But I am having issues once I exit and close the program. When I restart I cannot re open the work books again. When I click open from the File menu nothing happens. what am I doing wrong?

 

Also. will we be able to load executable and binary files, I see those listed in the file type column?

 

My work books use zylonslayers workbook posted above as a starting point. I then search and found as many of the available roms as i could find.

 

Best Regards

Robert

Edited January 20, 2014 by venom4728a

[venom4728a]

I have made two work books. But I am having issues once I exit and close the program. When I restart I cannot re open the work books again. When I click open from the File menu nothing happens. what am I doing wrong?

 

Hmmm, I am working on a different computer today, it also seems I cannot save new work books. so it may be related to only this pc. I will try to open the workbooks on the other pc later today.

 

Robert